Holding Keeping His Feet On The Floor

Youngster Rob Holding has been speaking about how he’s settled into life at Arsenal following his arrival over the summer from Bolton Wanderers.

With 30 appearances for Bolton and a substitute showing for Bury in a loan spell under his belt, he made the move to the Emirates Stadium over the summer for an officially undisclosed fee and despite the 21 year old being one for the future, injuries at the back saw Arsene Wenger lean heavily on him in August and he’s continued to feature at points since, taking in eight games across all competitions so far this year.

Speaking to the Official Site with obvious financial gains from his move, Holding says he remains down to earth as an individual, but certainly has a growing aggression level having worked alongside our other centre halves now.

‘I wouldn`t say I`ve changed much, I`m pretty much the same down-to-earth lad who has lived at home, moved and got on with the lads straight away. So it wasn`t like I had to change, everybody accepted me for who I am. My dad keeps me grounded. My dad definitely won`t let me get carried away with anything. If I did he`d give me a little clip round the ear or something.’

He went on to say that he felt his balanced life had definitely helped him adjust, and his dad continues to figure prominently in any event.

‘My dad and the rest of my family keeps me grounded and my dad`s definitely been a big influence. He took me everywhere that I needed to go and he watches every game. He`ll be there with my granddad in the Arsenal end at Preston with two of my mates, so they`ll look forward to that.’

Working under Arsene Wenger and Steve Bould to improve his game, he obviously has his international team mates to learn from as well, and he explained the biggest thing he had taken on board was to always demand more and he’s now more aggressive in his approach to his career and games.

‘I think that`s about demanding, demanding what you want in training. If you`re just happy to accept what`s going on around you, maybe you don`t see that fight. But if you want to be a winner, if you`re in a small-sided game and you`re demanding stuff off your team-mates to work that extra bit, to score that extra goal, I think that`s what the boss is saying.’

He added.

‘I just don`t like losing. I hate losing and I used to hate losing as a kid. Me and my cousin are similar ages and I think our parents played us off against each other a bit at times. We were always ultra-competitive and wanted to win in what we were doing. There were many times where I have been playing my Xbox and I`ve been getting beat and I`ve just turned it off and stormed off! It`s just the competitive side coming out in you.’

At least he didn’t admit to throwing the controller up the wall – we all do that…don’t we?